Saturday 17 July 2010

Meadowsweet and Field Maple

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) has burst into flower during the last ten days.

A remarkable variety of insects can be seen plunging into the fragrant flower plumes. I found this longhorn beetle near Askwith. I think it might be Stenocorus cursor.

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I was actually, rather optimistically, looking for the leafmine Stigmella ulmariae which would have been a first Yorkshire record! Perhaps I will have more luck at the end of September. I did find a few dipterous mines.
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At a woodland edge, opposite the church at Denton, I opened a folded leaf of Field Maple (Acer campestre) to find a caterpillar of the tortrix moth, Acleris sparsana.
What appeared to be a French Partridge was skulking nearby, and a sizable flock of Greylag Geese (Anser anser) are resident at Denton Park.

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